Survivors
by sassafrasss
Summary: Their life, intertwined. Introspective KakaSaku
1. Monsters

"_What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, 'This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!' Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and __curse__ that demon? Or would you answer, 'Never have I heard anything more divine'?__"_

_**~Friedrich Nietzsche**_

When thinking of historical Shinobi, one always thinks in threes.

The great Hashirama Senju Shodai Hokage, flanked by two dark Uchiha Brothers, Madara and Izuna, built the Leaf Village.

Hashirama's younger brother, Tobirama, was the second Hokage, and he taught Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane, all of who would later become the Third Hokage and the two highest ranking Advisors in the Village.

Hiruzen Sarutobi later went on to teach the Legendary Sannin: Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

Jiraiya would even later go on to teach his own Genin team, including Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage.

Minato Namikaze would teach his own Genin team before he became Hokage, consisting of Rin, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake.

Kakashi Hatake would later go on to teach the New Sannin: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Haruno Sakura.

But, when thinking of historical Shinobi, one always thinks of tragedy.

Izuna Uchiha gave his life and eyes for his brother, and Hashirama and Madara were locked in battle ever since.

Hiruzen Sarutobi would be killed by his very own prodigious student, Orochimaru, and his two surviving teammates would grow into their old age with a jaded bitterness towards youth and a ruthless view on life and the greater good.

Orochimaru would later desert Konoha to spend his remaining days plotting his home village's demise. Jiraiya would be killed by one of his very first students. Tsunade would survive the others, alone, as the Fifth Hokage.

Minato Namikaze would give his life to save his Village's, his surviving teammates whereabouts are unknown.

Uchiha Obito would give his life to protect his teammates at a very young age. He gave his only undamaged Sharingan eye to Kakashi, so he would have the means to protect Rin.

Kakashi would later fail, and Rin would be added to the memorial rock Kakashi now stared at, one of thousands of times.

Today, though, he had company.

Hands deep in his pockets, Kakashi moved his one uncovered eye from Haruno Sakura, the girl (_woman_—he corrected himself) kneeling on the ground beside him, back to his teammates names.

Sakura stared at a totally different set of names on the rock.

Taught by Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Uchiha Sasuke, all 25 at the time, would fight one last battle together, against each other. In the end, the cost was high, and their powerful techniques would take the lives of both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. The clash of their elemental techniques would leave their only female teammate critically injured and close behind their backs.

Kakashi can still picture her broken body in his mind: sunk into the thick mud and covered in burns of ever sort and degree. He could still see the light start fading from her eyes. It made Kakashi's throat tighten.

But two years later, alive but mayhaps not well, Sakura stared at those names like Kakashi did to his teammates. Tomorrow, she would be assigned her first genin team.

"Sakura," Kakashi said, like he had never said her name before.

She stood, and faced him. She said nothing, but it was clear that she was listening.

"Promise me…" The Silver-haired Jounin's words were a bit hoarse, and he trailed off for a moment, "Promise me that you won't be a great teacher."

His eye moved to search her face. "What I mean is, promise me you won't teach them anything extraordinary…. Promise me they will just be average ninja's."

At this, his eye moved back to the monument, intent on Sasuke's and Naruto's name.

"Promise me you won't make monsters like the rest of us."

Sakura stared for a moment, but then turned back to the monument, staring at all the names of great shinobi. _Dead_ shinobi.

"I promise," she whispered.

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**A/N: Don't expect rapid, on-time, or regular updates.**


	2. I'm Here

**A/N: I listened to El tango de Roxanne from Moulin Rouge while writing this. Oh man, what a song.

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That night, the night of the two year anniversary of Naruto and Sasuke's death, something happens.

Kakashi and Sakura should have predicted it.

In fact, Kakashi would later chide himself for predicting it, and letting it happen anyway.

On the one year anniversary of their teammate's death, Kakashi and Sakura don't even see each other, or anyone. Each of them locked themselves away in their little ninja apartments paid with blood money, devoid of personal things, and drank.

This year, though, they visit the memorial together and then they part ways to repeat the last part of last year's ritual.

Change of plans, though, when Sakura knocks on Kakashi's door.

She's in her pajamas. An old t-shirt that she's outgrown enough for her not to wear in daylight, but still comfortable enough to sleep in. Some baggy light green pants with a repeating teacup pattern, and Sakura doesn't even like tea. Barefoot.

It's cold out, he can tell by the gooseflesh that's visible on her arms and she's not wearing a bra because her arms are folded over her breasts in hopes he doesn't notice.

"Kakashi—" She says, "I can't do this alone anymore."

And she stepped in without really asking. Kakashi moved without really saying anything.

She stopped calling him sensei when she found out they were dead, after three weeks in a coma. Kakashi had told her, and he had cried for the first time in a long time.

Kakashi looks comfortable too. He didn't have his flak jounin vest on, and he just wore his simple navy blue spandex under shirt which doubled as his mask and a pair of dark grey sweatpants.

When they are sitting on his couch, she won't look at him. Finally, Kakashi reached out and touched her shoulder with a fingertip. She looks straight into his mismatched eyes then, and just looks at him for a moment.

Then, she moves forward, pushing her palms flat against his chest gently, but firmly. Kakashi leans backwards and down onto the couch, putting one of his legs up. Sakura lays her body, belly down, against him, setting her head against his shoulder so her breath tickles his neck through the thin fabric. His arms slowly rise up and encircle her waist loosely, his fingers interlocking.

Sakura breaths and rests on his chest, eyes flickering shut.

"It's cold out." She says, "But it won't rain. Not even the sky will cry for them tonight like it should."

Kakashi grunts in reply. "I know, it's pissing me off. It's as if…"

He trails off, and Sakura finishes it for him, "…As if they've been forgotten."

The Copy-Nin doesn't say anything, because it wasn't that he was struggling for the words, it was that he didn't want to hear them.

They sit in silence for a while, then, with nothing but Kakashi's clock ticking in the background. It's not even on the right time, which has always bothered Sakura.

The pink-haired kunoichi lets out a small laugh after a bit.

"I remember when Naruto promised Sasuke that they would die together." She spits bitterly, "I was so naïve, I had hope that Naruto could save Team Seven."

Kakashi still doesn't respond. What does one tell a teammate that they didn't feel or know already?

"Sometimes I wonder why he couldn't have extended me that courtesy too."

At that, Kakashi felt a pang and he jerked his head to look down at her. He can see that she isn't crying, but that worries him more than if she had been.

Out of some strange instinct, Kakashi stretches his head strangely and touches his clothed lips to Sakura's temple. Then, he begs _(nearly whimpers)_, "Don't say that."

Sakura is startled by how thick his voice is. She props herself up a bit so she can look Kakashi in the eye, and she can see that what she said hurt him.

Somewhere, she _knows_ that she is all he has left.

What happens next is not the result of drunkenness, or life-shattering grief.

Sakura bridges the small gap between their face and kisses Kakashi long and slow on his lips.

For some reason, he's not surprised and he accepts her kiss with closed eyes.

What happens next is the result of two people trying to comfort each other.

Kakashi's arms tighten just a little bit around her waist, and it's all the encouragement Sakura needs to reach up and pull his mask down for the first time.

She doesn't bother to look at his face because it _doesn't fucking matter anymore_ and she doesn't need to open her eyes to know where his lips are.

As the kiss grows from warming to hungry and passionate, Kakashi's hands slip under her shirt and roam Sakura's back, his fingertips applying just the right amount of pressure.

Her hands roam too. One goes north to dig deep into his silver hair and the other trails over his muscled chest til she can find the edge of the fabric.

Kakashi is delighted to discover that she ate chocolate ice cream before she came over when her lips break open, and his tongue caresses alongside hers.

They break for a moment, staring wild-eyed and panting at each other.

The silver-haired jounin surges forward to catch Sakura in another kiss, while forcing her backwards and then up into a standing position. They bump their way across the living room and through the tiny doorway to his bedroom.

They spend the night together, not because their teammates are gone, but because they are here.

When he wakes up curled around her sleeping form, he waits until she awakes to tell her that.

It's early morning and she jolts into consciousness with a gasp. Kakashi tightens his hold around her lithe body, and whispers gruffly into her ear, "I'm here…I'm here…"

Sakura breathes deeply and pushes herself closer to him, if only to make sure.


End file.
